I’m going to have to disagree with you, Mark. The school officials had no idea initially if this man was truly a hunter or a nut job. A lock down of the high school makes absolute sense. The school officials simply lock the doors to make sure no one enters or exits the building. Perhaps it is where I live (close to D.C.) but after 9/11 and the sniper attacks, I would be furious as a parent if I knew the school ignored a possible issue and put my children at risk. What better way to put terror into a country than to start killing kids? Life is risk but life experience has taught me that sometimes to react to what possibly is a bad situation is far better than to ignore it and wish I didn’t later. IMHO.

At a mostly rural school in the neighboring county, some one reported a person entered the building carrying a gun. The sheriff was called, the person found, no arrest. He had a gun stock and was working on it in wood shop.

Was the man hunting coyotes on school grounds or adjacent to school grounds? A lockdown would be reasonable in that case. But, if someone saw a man with a gun somewhere in town and they locked down the schools because of it, then that is too much.

The message to the children (and the town and, thanks to national news, the country) in this is that we (the government) protect you from anyone with a gun because people with guns (who don’t have badges) are bad.

Now I am just asking because I do not have kids in school any more so don’t flame. Doesn’t lock down mean they cannot leave and more importantly parents can’t get them?
Isn’t lock down taking away your rights as a parent?

I want the kids “safe” too, but I certainly do not want the statists to decide some of these things. They usurp power sometimes and I cringe when I hear of it. Telling me or my kid that I am a virtual prisoner just rubs me wrong somehow.

I think in a dangerous situation a school is locked down UNTIL the parents come to get them. They don't plan to keep the kids there for an extended period. I think that because of the incidents that have happened at schools with crazy shooters that schools HAVE to lock down until things are figured out. Think about it, schools have doors on all sides where nuts could enter.

The article seemed unclear as to the location of the hunter. I assumed his location was close enough to the school to make the administration/staff worry. If you would have asked me twenty years ago if I thought this was “over kill”, I probably would have said yes. However, I remember the sniper killings. I was one of the countless parent volunteers that made a “tunnel” of sorts so the children could run through to get to school. I wore a white sweatshirt and I made a bright red circle on the back (in hopes that if the sniper was there... he would target on me rather than my first grader at the time). Other parents put neon duct tape on their shirts for the same reason.

A half hour lock down does mean that no one enters or exits the building. The kids stay away from any widow. Unfortunately, we no longer live in a country where it is automatically assumed that someone with a gun is just a hunter. I wish we did, but we don’t. I disagree with the statement that the “government protects you from anyone with a gun because people with guns (and no badges) are bad”. This lock down was a safety precaution only IN CASE the man with the gun wasn’t just a hunter.

Wisconsin isn’t Maryland, D.C. , Virginia or New York. (I have the feeling that parents in those locations are just a bit more nervous about school safety with respect to terrorists or nut jobs). However, let me play devil’s advocate. Let’s say the school officials knew there was a man with a gun near the school and did nothing. They assumed it was just a hunter. The man then picked off students at their lunch break or the end of the day (when everyone exits at once). Or, the man entered the school and started mass killing of kids. A parent would then ask, “Why did you assume it was simply a hunter and not take precautions before verifying this information?” If you would simply had locked the doors then one, four, twenty kids... wouldn’t be dead.

Again, it is probably where I live (and my life experience) that has me disagreeing with Mark. Wearing a white sweatshirt with a hand drawn target on it will do that to you. Watching little kids run through a tunnel of adults to get to school may have a lasting impression on me that I will never kick.

Reading the title, I thought they locked down the school because there was a coyote hunting for a human for breakfast. Does adding the word "a" really make the title too long, i.e., A man hunting a coyote.....

I need more coffee..............

9
posted on 05/23/2012 6:23:14 AM PDT
by OB1kNOb
(The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. - Prov 22:3)

"A man was spotted leaving a gun store with a rifle in his possesion. All schools in the city were put on lock-down until the individual could be detained and questioned. Additional accomplices were observed entering the store."

10
posted on 05/23/2012 6:24:55 AM PDT
by moovova
(OBAMA: The first US President to come out of the closet.)

For those who don’t know, Waukesha High School is in the city. There are many parts of Waukesha County that are quite rural, but the HS is in the city. There are large suburban lots but it is really rather congested. I would not want an unidentified man with a rifle roaming around the HS. I’m sure that hunting is not allowed there.

For instance, I live in a semi-rural area. There would be no hunting allowed around our HS. However, my home is on 12 acres in an Ag Overlay district, and I can hunt with a shotgun on my own land, or with a .22 for varmints. Otherwise, it is bow and arrow, only. During deer season, there is a hunter who gets several adjoining landowners to sign a paper giving him permission to hunt on our land. He puts several parcels together for about 40 acres of range. He can use a rifle, or a bow, depending on which season it is. He’s taken some big bucks out of here.

For those who don’t know, Waukesha High School is in the city. There are many parts of Waukesha County that are quite rural, but the HS is in the city. There are large suburban lots but it is really rather congested. I would not want an unidentified man with a rifle roaming around the HS. I’m sure that hunting is not allowed there.

For instance, I live in a semi-rural area. There would be no hunting allowed around our HS. However, my home is on 12 acres in an Ag Overlay district, and I can hunt with a shotgun on my own land, or with a .22 for varmints. Otherwise, it is bow and arrow, only. During deer season, there is a hunter who gets several adjoining landowners to sign a paper giving him permission to hunt on our land. He puts several parcels together for about 40 acres of range. He can use a rifle, or a bow, depending on which season it is. He’s taken some big bucks out of here.

For those who don’t know, Waukesha High School is in the city. There are many parts of Waukesha County that are quite rural, but the HS is in the city. There are large suburban lots but it is really rather congested. I would not want an unidentified man with a rifle roaming around the HS. I’m sure that hunting is not allowed there.

For instance, I live in a semi-rural area. There would be no hunting allowed around our HS. However, my home is on 12 acres in an Ag Overlay district, and I can hunt with a shotgun on my own land, or with a .22 for varmints. Otherwise, it is bow and arrow, only. During deer season, there is a hunter who gets several adjoining landowners to sign a paper giving him permission to hunt on our land. He puts several parcels together for about 40 acres of range. He can use a rifle, or a bow, depending on which season it is. He’s taken some big bucks out of here.

For those who don’t know, Waukesha High School is in the city. There are many parts of Waukesha County that are quite rural, but the HS is in the city. There are large suburban lots but it is really rather congested. I would not want an unidentified man with a rifle roaming around the HS. I’m sure that hunting is not allowed there.

For instance, I live in a semi-rural area. There would be no hunting allowed around our HS. However, my home is on 12 acres in an Ag Overlay district, and I can hunt with a shotgun on my own land, or with a .22 for varmints. Otherwise, it is bow and arrow, only. During deer season, there is a hunter who gets several adjoining landowners to sign a paper giving him permission to hunt on our land. He puts several parcels together for about 40 acres of range. He can use a rifle, or a bow, depending on which season it is. He’s taken some big bucks out of here.

Times sure have changed. As a 1st grader (1960) living in rural Alabama I can remember seeing high school students riding the bus with .22 rifles. The only rule was unloaded and stored in a case. Marksmanship was offered as an elective back then. Later when I was in high school, kids would leave their deer rifles in their PU’s so they could hunt deer after school. Every boy in my high school carried a buck knife on his belt. No one ever dreamed of pulling it on someone because it was a cowardly thing to do and if daddy found out he would whip your ass. Then came desegregation....

I would never flame you (okay... some other FR’s I would but not you. LOL). A Code Red does lock down the school and does not permit entry or exit. It is only called when there is a situation that could endanger the children or staff. So, yes... the parents cannot enter during a Code Red. The mindset is if a parent can enter and get into the building then a “bad person” can do so as well. Code Reds last a short time and to be honest.. they are rarely used. In fact, the last time a Code Red was used at one of my kid’s school was when an armed bank robber was seen near a the school. The concept was if the armed robber got desperate, they (there were several together) could enter a school and take the children as hostage. I believe the Code Red lasted about fifteen minutes. Fortunately, it has not been used willy nilly. It is practiced several times during the school year like a fire drill. (the hope that they will never truly need it but know how to do it just in case).

Speaking of school lockdowns...
I’ve had several occasions over the years, to visit a local high school during school hours. From what I experienced I’d say that school is ALWAYS on lockdown. You don’t get in unless you’re identified and buzzed in. You sign in, get tagged. You sign out. You’re watched on monitors, you’re watched BY monitors standing by the exit. All exterior doors are locked to the outside and if not for the fire regs they’d be permanently locked on the inside. Someone is watching every door, either physically present or via video surveillance.
Never tested it, but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if I walked into a broom closet and shut it behind me, and a security grunt would see it on vid and sound an alarm.
You also need to announce your cell phone and camera possessions, but so far you are not required to surrender them at the door. So far!
And it’s all just slightly more strict and secure than your typical senior/elderly apartment building.
I have been asked for photo ID at schools, too. Next they will have wanding, and then full patdowns.
To the 21st century politician and bureaucrat, a safe place is where you forfeit your rights. The more you forfeit, the safer the place. Message: rights are dangerous.
But what is anyone doing about this? Anything? Anyone?

17
posted on 05/23/2012 6:47:38 AM PDT
by Lady Lucky
(Non-compliant, not govt-issued, and not voting for Romney.)

I was once on the campus of Southern Utah University and got sort of a culture shock when a student carrying a rifle walked past me. He was chatting with his friends—apparently, openly carrying a firearm in southwestern Utah is nothing unusual. I assumed he was going to target practice.

Had the student done the same thing just six hours away on a campus in California, the SWAT team would have been called, the school evacuated, and the student would be arrested, held without bail, and face years and years in prison.

Oh my God. We have become perpetual victims.
Was the man in the school?
Was the man on the school grounds?
Had any threats been made to the school?
If not why a lock down?
Because we have allowed the liberal spineless, cry baby, whiners, to dictate how we live over the past 40 some years.
When I went to school it was common to see several rifles/shotguns in racks in vehicles on the school parking lot.
Teachers and students. We NEVER had school shootings. Had we, someone could have put stop to it, very quickly.
We have lost the ability to be Americans. Thank you so much progressives, liberals, socialist, communists.........

19
posted on 05/23/2012 6:53:01 AM PDT
by SECURE AMERICA
(Where can I sign up for the New American Revolution and the Crusades 2012?)

Or they could just send a couple cops out to see what he’s up to, instead of going through all the drama that makes national news to worry every parent in the nation. One of the consequences of 24/7 news is that everything becomes local news so people can panic as if the danger is next door. When this kind of story is “breaking news”, they rarely interrupt for more “breaking news” when it is discovered that the guy is a hunter.

How many of you human targets went out searching for the sniper, rather than passively acting as the outer sheep in the flock? If you wanted to get shot, then get shot doing something and not just standing there like herd animals waiting to be picked off by the predators. Seriously, painting a target on yourself and then waiting to get shot is the most un-American thing I’ve ever heard. We just don’t roll that way in the land of the free and home of the brave.

“How many of you human targets went out searching for the sniper, rather than passively acting as the outer sheep in the flock?”

Plenty. Parents circulated in the area of the school prior to the start of the day and at dismissal. You obviously weren’t there and therefore no nothing about that incident or the concerns (even after a student was shot). “.. painting a target on yourself is the most un-American thing I’ve ever heard”. No, it isn’t. Not at all. Our community came together as AMERICANS and acted as a cohesive group. Parents were in cars and called the school/911 if they saw anything suspicious. However, parents that painted targets on themselves did this: we would have sacrificed ourselves OVER the life of one of our children. If you think that is un-American, then I pity you. Any decent parent would rather take a bullet than their child.

I had forgotten the child’s name. “On october 7, at 8:09 a.m. Iran Brown, aged 13, was shot as he arrived at the Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Maryland.” He was shot exiting his Aunt’s car. He did survive the abdomen shot and later testified at the trial. The concept of the “human tunnel” was that children would exit the vehicle into a tunnel of adults. They would then be shorter and less of a target. The un-American concept was the protection of children.

Making a human tunnel to shield the children was admirable. Being melodramatic and painting targets on yourself was an over-the-top stunt. I realize that you live in an anti-self defense state and that affects your perception of the world, so being a brighter target is the only club in your bag. I was born in MD and I’m not sorry that we moved away when I was 7.

Of course I’m aware of the Beltway Sniper. It was on the news 24/7 nationwide where the government experts were telling you to look out for a white male, college educated, age 35-45, with a white van. When they caught the muslim and his “protege” in their Crown Vic or Caprice (I forget which), they didn’t talk about it much more, except to say that his religion had nothing to do with it.

“Being melodramatic and painting targets on yourself was an over the top stunt”.

I disagree. It made total sense to us at the time. They were snipers. One, possibly more. Anything to focus a scope on an adult rather than a child was done in order to protect them. It was not melodramatic. Granted, Chief Moose used his ultimate PC skills to allow the public to think it was white males and a white van. However, we knew fully well that any vehicle was suspect. “I’m aware of the Beltway sniper”. Of course you are. However, you are aware of the situation from your television. Most of the shootings occurred within a two mile radius of where our school sits and we live. Being in the situation is a whole lot different than sitting in Florida and judging Marylanders as “un-American”. Have a good day.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.